AMANTE LAFFÓN

Amante Laffón at Hueco Studio: finding their own voice from Seville

After their visit to Hueco Studio, we sat down with Amante Laffón to talk about their live performance, their songs, their beginnings and the current moment of the Seville music scene.

The band, formed by Carlos on vocals and guitar, Tamaja on guitar, Kiko on bass and Dani on drums, came to Hueco Sessions with an intense, intimate live show, carrying that sharp edge that appears when songs are experienced up close.

From the very beginning, the conversation revolved around one idea: Amante Laffón is a band that has found its identity over time. It did not appear out of nowhere, but from previous projects, years of playing together and the need to search for a voice of their own.

“It came from the need to find our identity, to find our own sound, our own way of expressing ourselves.”

The name of the band also speaks of that origin. Amante Laffón comes from the Seville street where they first started rehearsing, in a family space that became their first rehearsal room. Before that, they were called The Pitillos, a name they now remember with laughter as something “impossible to defend”. Changing the name to Amante Laffón was also a way of going back to the beginning and taking more seriously what they were building.

“We wanted to honour our beginnings and the fact that we feel very connected to our neighbourhood.”

Songs that change hands

One of the most interesting parts of the interview was hearing how their songs are born. Many times, Carlos brings an initial idea in a more stripped-back form: voice, piano, guitar or a first structure. But that first shape never stays untouched.

In the rehearsal room, the songs pass through the whole band. Harmonies are reviewed, intentions are changed, parts are transformed, and each member contributes from their own place until the song finds its final form.

“I bring an idea, but I know that when they turn it around, it becomes much better than what I had in my head.”

There is one of the keys to Amante Laffón: trust. The trust to change an idea, to discuss it, to feel slightly uncomfortable at first and, later, to recognise that the song has arrived somewhere better.

“At first it bothers you, because you bring your idea, but then you realise that it’s good.”

That way of working explains part of their sound. There is something emotional and raw in their songs, but it never feels forced. As they explain, in their latest album, Esta noche es nuestra, everything comes out in a more natural way, both in the lyrics and in the sound.

Ten years playing together

Amante Laffón is not just a band. It is also a relationship built over years.

In the interview, they talk about family, friendship and shared life. Two brothers, a cousin and an “adopted” one, as they joke. But beyond the joke, there is something very real in that dynamic: they have spent nearly ten years playing together, seeing each other several times a week and sharing an important stage of their lives.

“We have more of a relationship with each other than with our friends, our families, with everyone.”

That closeness shows in the way they speak, interrupt each other, correct each other and laugh. It also appears in the way they understand difficult moments. When the topic of anxiety comes up, through the song Lorazepam, the band talks about something that runs through both their music and their generation: everyday anxiety, work, heartbreak, worries and everything that builds up in daily life.

They do not treat it as a pose, but as something that is simply there, around them and within them.

“There is more and more anxiety, not only in us. You are also inspired by people, by your surroundings.”

Between pop, edge and guitars

When talking about references, very different names come up: The Drums, The Smiths, The Cure, Her’s, Fontaines D.C., Joy Division and Alizzz. Each one seems to bring a different element to the band’s sound: the drums, the textures, the melody, the darkness, the way of updating certain influences.

But what is most interesting is that, according to them, it was with Esta noche es nuestra that they felt the project truly sounded like Amante Laffón.

“That was the intention of this album: to find our voice and our way of telling things.”

Live, that identity becomes more physical. They say they do not really like the word “rock”, because they feel the concept has been taken to a slightly outdated place. They prefer to speak about pop in a broad sense, even post-pop. But there is one word that appears several times and defines very well what happens when they play: edge.

“The songs usually get a bit more edge when we play them live.”

And that is exactly what we felt at Hueco Studio. Songs with melody, yes, but also with tension. Guitars that open up space, a solid rhythm section and moments where everything seems about to break apart a little, without ever losing the centre of the song.

Seville as a starting point

Another major topic of the conversation was Seville.

Amante Laffón talk about a particularly alive local scene, with many guitar bands, collectives, concerts and projects appearing at the same time. They mention bands such as Los Victorias, Nuevo Berlín, Arrecío and Juventude, as well as collectives that are helping move the scene forward.

For them, what matters is not only that there are bands, but that there is a real fabric around them.

“You have to build a scene, because if you go see a band and you like them, the following week you’ll want to go see another one.”

That idea connects deeply with the spirit of Hueco Sessions. Creating small, close spaces where bands can play in a different way and where the audience can experience music from a less distant place.

Because not everything has to happen in Madrid. Things can also be built from Seville, from Cantillana, from a studio, from a rooftop, from a concert with people just a few metres away.

A session experienced up close

For Amante Laffón, playing at Hueco Studio was a different experience. They are more used to venues, stages and a certain distance from the audience. Here, everything happens very close.

You see people’s faces. You hear what they say. You feel the silences. The connection is more direct.

“A really beautiful experience, very intimate. Sharing with people and connecting with them in a different way.”

After the concert, between cocktails, dinner and conversation, the band also experienced that other side of Hueco Sessions: not just playing and leaving, but staying, talking with people, listening to what happened and becoming part of the atmosphere created around the music.

At the end of the interview, they summed it up in a very simple way:

“Come to Hueco Studio, in Cantillana. It’s fucking great.”

And maybe that says it all. A band searching for its voice, a local scene growing from the ground up and a small space where songs can be heard very close.

Amante Laffón came to Hueco Studio with guitars, intensity, humour and songs that already sound like something of their own. A session to listen to up close, and a conversation about what it means to keep playing, keep changing and keep building from the place you come from.